NBC brought Night Court back to television in the new year as the latest revival of a classic series, and it quickly became clear that viewers were ready for the kinds of hijinks that only Abby Stone, Dan Fielding, and the rest of the ensemble can bring to primetime. Now, after only four episodes have aired, the network has officially renewed the sitcom for Season 2. Plus, there’s more news about the future of the show, which stars Melissa Rauch (who had fun reasons for loving the idea of Night Court coming back) and original series actor John Larroquette!
The renewal for Season 2 comes after Night Court reached some quick success. It has already reached more than 25 million viewers across viewing platforms since the premiere on January 17, with the show available live on Tuesday nights and streaming on Wednesdays for those with a Peacock subscription. It also ranks as the top broadcast premiere with the 18-49 age demographic and top comedy premiere on broadcast or cable in the same demo. In fact, Night Court is the best comedy premiere for NBC since 2017, when Will & Grace returned. It also beats the premiere of The Conners back in 2018.
It was clear based on the numbers and enthusiasm that Night Court was a hit with viewers, so a renewal doesn’t come as a surprise. What is a bit more surprising is how early the renewal was announced, as the show has only been airing for three weeks after premiering with two episodes back-to-back that brought some laughs and confirmed Harry Stone’s fate from the original series. Viewers are apparently loving the shenanigans that ensue whenever the optimistic Judge Abby Stone tries her best to win over her coworkers, particularly the more cynical former prosecutor Dan Fielding, the role reprised by John Larroquette for the revival.
Of course, Night Court isn’t the only NBC series to receive a renewal fairly quickly, as the same happened with Quantum Leap and La Brea, and THR reports that there’s a connection between the three renewals. The outlet states that Night Court will continue production in the spring instead of heading into a break before returning in the fall for Season 2. The goal is reportedly to get some episodes finished before the potential Writer’s Guild strike in May, as well as the potential Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes in June.
If those strikes do happen, then networks could be in a bind in the fall TV season without the usual material to premiere. There wouldn’t be time to produce a full season between the end of Season 1 production in the spring and when the strikes could begin, but NBC could have some episodes ready to go in the fall. NBC hasn’t handed down early renewals to all of its shows, but a half-hour sitcom would presumably be easier to keep running into what would normally be hiatus than one of the network’s biggest long-running drama.
For now, we can only wait and see if the strikes happen. Either way, Night Court fans can be as optimistic as Abby Stone (even in light of her troubled past) now that the sitcom is guaranteed a second round beyond the 2022-2023 TV season. New episodes of the hit sitcom air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, ahead Season 2 of American Auto.
